Chapter 10

"So what are we going to do today?" Milim asked Aura from where she was sitting on a bench, idly swinging her legs. Veldora was sitting beside her, reading manga without a care in the world. This park area on the outskirts of the capital was the perfect place for outdoor leisure activities, and quite a lot of Tempest's denizens used the opportunity to go out with their families and have some fun.

Save for the hanzo guards, who hid in shadows making a large perimeter around them, no one else was anywhere near the trio, knowing how bad it would be to get in the middle of them playing around.

"We could play ball." Aura said, taking one out of her inventory.

"Last time we played, the ball exploded, remember?" Milim reminded her. "I want to do something fun."

"This one is much tougher. It's made out of tarasque skin and enchanted for durability." Aura tossed the ball that was the same size as her head up and down with a smirk. "It also has a spell cast on it that allows it to absorb our energy for a bigger punch and a recall function."

Milim tilted her head in confusion. "What's a recall function?"

"Watch!" Aura said and threw the ball towards the tree line in the distance. It hit a tree, shaking it up quite a lot and bounced back, falling on the ground. Aura lifted her hand and shouted. "Return ball." making it instantly appear back in her hand.

"Uuu, lemme try, lemme try!" Milim jumped to her feet and snatched the ball out of Aura's hand. She then threw the ball towards the tree line, the same as Aura, only with a much larger force behind it. The ball hit another tree and bounced back, leaving it leaning on one side at about a ten-degree angle.

"See! I told you." Aura said with a smirk and recalled the ball once again.

"Uncle, come play ball with us!" Milim shouted.

Veldora lazily looked up, "I'm mid chapter." he declared in a clearly annoyed tone, before quickly returning his gaze back to the enthralling read.

In response, Milim grabbed the ball and chucked it at his head. To no one's surprise, Veldora quite easily caught the ball without even looking up, and threw it back at her with enough force to leave a fire trail in its path. Millim caught it, though her feet left a small dent in the ground underneath her as a result.

"Now you're on!" Milim shouted. "You will feel the wrath of the dragon princess!"

"Calm down!" Aura snatched the ball out of her hands. "We still need to decide on rules."

"Can't we just use the ones we used last time?" Milim asked.

"I guess we can." Aura said and then shouted at Veldora, who was still lazily reading manga. "Hey, you fat dragon, are you coming or not!"

Now that surely got Veldora's attention. He pushed the manga into his inventory, jumped to his feet, and roared. "Just because that overgrown chicken calls me that doesn't mean I will take it from you, Aura!"

"Really now!" Aura smirked, imitating her mother. "Why don't you come and show us what you got!"

"Oh, you are on. Don't you go crying to Buku for help after I'm done with you!" Veldora roared again.

Aura threw the ball at him in response which he avoided with a boisterous laugh. "That's all you got? Here, let me show what a real throw is! Return Ball!"

The game was on. The trio threw the ball at each other with increasingly ridiculous taunts and just as easily avoided each other's attacks. One could say it was just a harmless game but the devastated landscape around them would paint a different picture.

When the ball hit the tree line, once again sending an entire patch of forest flying, Aura finally stopped and looked around.

"Guys!" She shouted to get Milim's and Veldora's attention. "I think we went too far..."

"What's the big deal? just toss that ball to me. It's my turn!" Milim said energetically, not quite understanding the consequences.

Veldora, meanwhile, looked around imagining Momonga's disappointed look when he would inevitably find out about the carnage they had done to the park. "I think Aura is right. We might need to fix this." he said, lost in thought on how to actually achieve that. When it came to destruction there was no one his equal, but when it came to fixing things in the aftermath…

"I'll ask mom what to do." Aura said, visibly tensing up.

"Aura! No! Wait!" Veldora tried to stop her but it was too late already. Buku appeared beside Aura with an unreadable expression. She calmly looked around and then asked in her deeper speaking tone. "And what is all this?"

Veldora gulped and took a step back as Aura started to talk. "We were playing ball and things got out of hand. I'm sorry, mom." she said the last part with a whimper.

"You were supposed to watch those two so things like this wouldn't happen." Buku said, "I trusted you would be responsible enough."

"I'm sorry, mom, I failed you." Aura whimpered while tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Buku crouched down to face her daughter, "It will be fine, but some punishment is needed, don't you agree?" She said softly as she wiped off Aura's tears.

Aura nodded slowly with a sob. Buku hugged her and said, "Now take a deep breath. Yes, like that."

Aura let out a long exhale and nodded one more time. Buku let go of her and stood up. To her surprise, neither Veldora nor Milim had tried to sneak away but were just silently watching them.

"Now I will have to bother Mare in his free time to clean up the mess you three made! None of you are getting dessert for a week, and chocolate will be off-limits for two!" Buku said in a deceitfully calm exasperation as she glared at Veldora in particular.

"Hey that's unfair, we were j…" Veldora started protesting, but was promptly cut off by Buku.

"Did I stutter? No dessert for a week and no chocolate for two. If you have a problem with that, we can greatly extend the punishment!" Buku dropped her tone even more.

"The punishment is perfectly just." Veldora quickly backpedaled with a squeak.

"Good. Now back to the castle so Mare can start cleaning up this mess!" Buku raised her voice and pointed towards the city.

Milim, who was silent up to this point, opened her mouth to tell Buku off but her words stuck in her mouth as she came face to face with Buku's glare. She quickly caught up with Veldora and Aura.

She glanced at both of them as they seemingly had accepted their fate. 'Why am I putting up with this? Why is Veldora putting up with this?'

"Hey, why did you just accept her talking down to you like that?" Milim asked as she stepped in front of the Storm Dragon.

"Don't speak so loud, she might hear us. Do you want to lose chocolate privileges for even longer?" Veldora responded half-whispering.

"Aura?" Milim turned to her next.

"I was supposed to watch over you both and see that you behave." She said with a haunted voice staring into the distance. "I let mom down, and I let down Lord Momonga."

'W-what's with her? Why are both of them acting like this?' Milim started to panic. Buku was very powerful for sure, but she was a far cry compared to Veldora, and even Aura was on her mother's level. There was something more she couldn't grasp.

'Come to think of it, Aura was crying. Could it be because she let her mother down?' Milim tried to remember her own parents once again. 'Did I disappoint them so much that they left me and Aura is afraid the same would happen to her?'

Milim's lip quivered as she stopped and stared into the distance. Her father was a dragon; that's what Veldora said, and dragons were immortal. So, her father didn't come back for a reason. 'There was no one; no mother, no father, no…' Her hands started to shake as she snarled and her aura started to expand.

"You knew I was your niece! Why didn't you tell me all this time?" She asked without facing Veldora.

"Oh, about that. You see, your father, my older brother was very proud of you, but he thought I would be a bad influence on you and sort of forbid me to interact with you." Veldora answered casually.

"Why didn't he come back for me?" Milim continued questioning her uncle. 'I will get my answers even if I have to beat them out of him!'

When Veldora hesitated to answer, Milim turned to him with her hands clenched so tightly that a small stream of blood was pouring out of them.

"Why didn't he come back?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows why he isn't back yet." Veldora took a step closer and crouched down, imitating what Buku did with Aura. 'I can't tell her that she might be the reason why. Velda did lose most of his power when she was born. Heh, look at me, caring about others all of the sudden. Who would have ever thought that could happen.' "Look, I don't really care about that promise anymore. I can deal with your father when he comes back, so for now we can hang out whenever you want. Your uncle will be there for you from now on."

Milim stared at him silently as her aura continued to spill out in increasing amounts.

"Hey, Milim, you gotta stop this! Your aura is too strong!" Aura had snapped out of her lamentations about her failure and was back to doing the job she was entrusted with.

"She is right. Take a deep breath. Everything will be fine." Veldora chipped in.

Following the advice, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, absorbing most of the aura back in. Then, as if nothing had happened, said with an annoyed voice, "What are you both babbling about? I am fine! We need to figure out how to get our chocolate privileges back!"

"I don't know. Messing with Buku is a bad idea." Veldora said as he stood up, "You sure you are fine, kiddo?"

"I'm fine, but I'm pissed that you two chickened out and didn't stand up for our rights to get sweets!" Milim shouted and stomped back to the city ahead of the other two.

As Aura and Veldora watched her walk off as she cursed loudly, he turned to Aura, "Hey, sorry that things got out of hand and you got heat from your mom."

Aura slowly turned and stared at him weirdly.

"What?" Veldora asked.

She looked away and said quietly. "Nothing. Just weird to hear it from you."

'I know. It's weird for me too. Hanging out with these people has changed me quite a lot.' Veldora mused as he and Aura followed Milim.

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Aura eyed the two conspirators with clear suspicion. "You want to go around not only my mother's back but Lord Momonga as well?"

"It sounds bad when you put it like this, but think about it. If we get Mare to fix our mistakes, we don't have to take away their precious time." Veldora tried to sell the idea.

"I don't want to go another week without sweets." Milim chipped in.

"We could just act like we were supposed to and not destroy the park or forest!" Aura said as she crossed her hands.

"Sure, but what if it happens again by accident? Let's just get your brother on our side and have us covered just in case, hmm?" Veldora took out a packet of chocolate and dangled it in front of Aura.

"This is a bad idea. I don't want to deceive mom." She was not giving in.

"You won't be deceiving anyone. Mare is the one who fixed the park anyway. All we are doing is not worrying Buku about trivial things. And don't you want to spend more time with her when she is in a good mood?"

"Fine! But if you both don't listen to me when I tell you to stop, then I'm calling mom anyway!" Aura said, leaning forward and holding her hips.

"Sure thing!" Veldora said with a laugh and ruffled her hair.

"Hey!" Aura protested. Meanwhile, Milim looked away with her arms crossed. Veldora laughed at her antics and ruffled her hair too. "Let's go."

Mare, however, straight out denied their attempt at bribing him with sweets.

"Come on, Mare, can't you be a good brother for once!" Aura let out an exaggerated sigh.

"I-I'm not lying to mom, and y-you shouldn't too."

"Aura, remember our plan." Veldora said and sat next to Mare. "So if sweets aren't enough, then what would interest you, little buddy? Uncle Veldora doesn't want to bother your mom with each small mistake I make."

Mare looked down and then said with a barely audible voice. "Sis could be nicer to me."

"That's it? Easy. Right, Aura?" Veldora stared her down. { You can be nicer to your brother, right? }

"Fine… I'll try to be nicer to you." Aura let out another long sigh, as if she was asked to pull out her own teeth in exchange for her brother's compliance.

In response, Mare flashed her a timid smile and said. "Thank you, sis."

"Then it's all sorted. Here, this is for you." He pulled out two packets of chocolate and gave them to the elven boy. If the weeks' worth of supply depends on Mare, he might as well butter him up beforehand.

Proofreading by Sad_Smiles, Abbysalidiot, Somnium Hypnos, and Saphy.

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.